A sea of blue, estimated to be ten thousand strong, gathered in Lakewood today for the funeral of Officer Christopher Matlosz as the woman he was going to marry broke her silence.
"The moment I found out a Lakewood officer was shot I had a warmth come over me,", Kelly Wilsifer told a mourners at the funeral mass at St. Mary of the Lake Church. "And Chris whispered in my ear and said 'Everything's going to be OK.'"
She did not know who had been shot last Friday but then she told the standing room only church, "No one ever told me that it was him, but I knew, I knew the whole time."
Even as the approximately ten thousand police, some from as far as Honolulu, were lining the streets of downtown Lakewood to salute the horse-drawn carriage with Matlosz' casket, a new murder charge was lodged against the man accused of striking down the 27-year-old officer.
The Ocean County Prosecutor's office said Jahmell Crockam, 19, is being charged with the murder of a 20-year-old Lakewood man whose body was found last October.
In addition, a law enforcement source said Crockam is a suspect in a third murder.
Governor Chris Christie spoke to both Kelly Wilsifer and her dearly departed when he told the gathering "The people of this state owe you and owe Chris an extraordinary debt."
Local
But it was Kelly who showed courage that seemed to surprise even herself when she finally came to the podium.
She admitted her faith was tested.
"I question God every day why he would take Chris away from me," she said.
They had been together four years when she said Officer Matlosz got down on a knee last year and proposed to her -- the most exciting moment of her life.
Now, "Chris made me who I am today and I'm blessed to have an amazing fiance and a best friend that so many people loved and cherished," she added.
She ended by remembering the words she said every time Matlosz went in to work.
"I would always say 'safe, extra safe,'" she said.
And with his casket just a few feet away, she spoke to Chris one more time by saying to him "safe, extra safe."
Follow Brian Thompson on Twitter @brian4NY
